Chapter Two
Enter Erik, the Sorcerous Suitor

Charles stood still in the quiet, snow-blanketed glade as the sounds of hoof and wing became fainter and fainter with each passing moment. When Eliza and Baron were finally out of sight, Charles despondently put his hands into his pockets, still wishing he could go along. Then he felt something cold and clammy brush against his hand. "Gahhhh...!" he yelped with fright. He turned his pocket inside out, dumping a small blubbery snow frog out into the snow. The boy began breathing again. He picked it up tentatively with both hands. "Hey there, lil' fella, how'd you get in my pocket?" That's when it happened... Stretch made good on his name. The snow frog began to shift and grow in shape and proportion. Charles gaped in awe as the frog transformed before his very eyes... He flung the thing away into the snow as if it had burned him. It grew to nearly 24 hands in height, with powerful-looking tree-trunk arms, eyes black as pitch, and a chilling aura of cold emanating from its pale rubbery skin. A magic-spawned White Slaad crouched before the quavering youth.
Charles tried to scream... but no sounds came forth. The Slaad leapt forward and slammed a heavy, bone-studded fist into the lad's head, knocking him instantly unconscious. The unholy terror slung the slim boy across its shoulder and loped after the fleeing rider.
The Slaad hopped through the forest, singing loudly in its own guttural language. "I don't mean to cause ha-a-arm! I just get hun-ger-y!" It crashed through the brush, sending squirrels and other small woodland animals skittering away. "Mmm-mmm--I smell woman-flesh."

Eliza stopped Baron in his tracks, listening to the horrid sounds emanating from the woods. Something was coming this way--something big. She angled off her course and kicked the horse into a run, heedless of the rocks and fallen branches that littered the forest floor. Breathing hard and spurring the steed on with a slap on the flank, Eliza didn't see the ravine loom up until it was too late. Baron tried to skid to a halt but lost his footing and plunged over, sending Eliza hurtling over his head and into the dirt. The horse rolled down the embankment, legs flailing wildly, barely missing the girl's tumbling form.
After a moment she picked herself up, experimentally moving her limbs. Nothing seemed to be broken. Baron, however, was not so lucky. Eliza could see that he'd broken his foreleg in the fall. Tears welling in her eyes, she knew she had no choice but to leave him, but it pained her to leave the animal to suffer. Before she could decide what to do, an enormous, toad-faced creature came hopping towards her, looming over the edge of the ravine and staring at the fallen girl with its impossibly large, glassy black eyes. Eliza screamed. Charles' eyes flickered open. "Wha--what?" he yelped. Then he started screaming too. The Slaad hopped down and slung Eliza over its shoulder. She was too terrified to notice the brooch glowing with a strange amber light.

Erik stroked his goatee and grinned evilly. "I can taste your fear, my girl," he whispered, fondling a similar object with a secret satisfaction. "And it is delicious." The sorcerer held the brooch up to his lips and kissed it. Thinking his lieutenants had finally snared the girl, he send a telepathic demand to the holder of the other brooch to deliver her to him as soon as possible.

Eliza and Charles had both passed out from fear, but the Slaad heard the call clearly. The monstrous frog-creature hopped happily off, both would-be snacks bouncing over its shoulder.
The world slowly swam back to Eliza, the horizon bounced as her mind registered where she was and how she got here. Charles was still unconscious, it was no use calling to him. She had to get out of this! She would rather spend eternity in any hell then to go back to that slime ridden suitor of a husband. She fished frantically in her pockets for a weapon, ANY weapon. Her slender hand came across a decent sized gem just slightly smaller then her fist. What the hell she thought, as she slammed it hard into the huge, white frog, a blinding light engulfed the area.
The Slaad screamed and dropped it's captives, clutching its sensitive eyes. Eliza was quickly on her feet, but Charles wasn't as lucky. He fell face first into a brush pile and nearly got kicked by the blindly stomping Slaad. For an instance Eliza thought of leaving him - then a small voice in the back of her mind reminded her how far Charles had already been dragged, just because of her.
Cursing, Eliza grabbed Charles shirt collar, tucking him up. The boy was coughing leaves as they ran, the furious Slaad at their heels. It didn't take long for Charles to fall behind, his trembling voice calling Eliza to help. Then he stumbled. To Charles's surprise, The Slaad didn't stop to get him. It simply trampled over. Again, Charles felt leaves filling his mouth as the monster's foot pressed him down. The Slaad reached out for Eliza. She could feel its sickly breath in her neck, hear its laugh. She took the last running steps, knowing that the game was over. Ground fell away under Eliza. The last thing she heard was the frog beast's enraged howl as its prey slipped away from it again.

The Slaad bowled past the two and kept going, the magical brooch still calling to its mind. Singing merrily in a sonorous array of burps and burbles, it tramped through the snow. "Slaad King hun-ger-y! Slaad King hun-ger-y! Squelch! Squelch!" It stomped off in a straight line towards Erik's tower, heedless of the trees and other obstacles in its way, looking for its next meal.
Eliza pulled Charles up with her and looked at the brooch. It was still glowing now, but with a quiet ambience, reflecting her relief at the narrow escape. Charles had started to cry quietly, though he was doing an admirable job of trying to hide it. "Oh Charles, I'm sorry I was so selfish to take you with me," Eliza said. "I had no idea the forest was such a dangerous place." And now they'd lost Baron--whatever would they do? Eliza took a deep breath and tried to maintain a brave front for the boy's sake. "Do you think you can get back to town on your own?"
"I--I think so," Charles stuttered. "Take my knife," Eliza said, handing it to him. "And be careful." She bid the boy good-bye as he ran off into the trees, feeling even more miserable than before.
Completely alone without even a horse for company, she snatched up her bow and set off in the other direction. Soon after, she heard a bird cry from above. Looking up, she saw two of Erik's riders wheeling in the sky above her. Eliza nocked an arrow as the two griffons dived down. Her arrow hit one of the birds, interrupting its flight, but the rider recovered. He brought his mount under control and landed a bit gracelessly a few paces away. The rider of the unwounded griffon swung a man catcher at her. Eliza dove to the side, avoiding the snare, and drew her short sword. The man laughed at her and urged his griffon on. The bird pounced and fell over her like a shadow of death, buffeting her with its wings and trapping her as the man dismounted.
Eliza stabbed out wildly with her short sword, scoring a gash on the monster's belly, but the griffon shrugged it off. Suddenly, she felt herself being dragged by the feet– the rider had her by the ankles, and the other man had recovered from his crash landing and held a sword to her vulnerable neck.
"Still feel like fighting?" said the one pressing sword to her throat, sneering at her. He stomped on her hand, breaking fingers and loosening her grip on her sword, which he promptly kicked away. Eliza lay helplessly in the snow, her mind reeling from the pain.

Charles was scrabbling through the woods and staring at the ground; he did not notice the third griffon rider until it was too late. The great bird bore down upon him.
"Hey! What? No!" The boy yelled as a net descended on him, pinning him so that he could not even reach his knife. "Perhaps _you_ shall ensure the girl's cooperation," said the rider before clubbing him unconscious.